The scent of chain lube, rubber and oranges lingers on my fingers. This is the sweet smell of bike repair and gender justice.

It’s 5 p.m. on a Tuesday at Bike Forth, Davis’ do-it-yourself bike repair shop. The garage door rolls up with a satisfying clang. Tonight is Women Trans Friends night. Women, transgender individuals and our friends gather to fix bikes and share stories of our pleasures and troubled times in the world of bicycle repair. My story of bike repair begins with blood and ends with orange-scented soap.

Before I moved to Davis, I mountain-biked in Laramie, Wyo. And I fell. A lot. I bled and broke my bike with alarming regularity. Fortunately, the local bike shop, The Pedal House, kept my bike in working order, while I repaired my cuts. Many afternoons, I would chat with the men (for all the mechanics were men) and watch with vague interest as their skilled hands mended the derailleur I bent in my latest crash. Continue reading ‘WTF? What’s up with gender and bikes?’

The Davis stop on the 2010 “Clips of Faith Beer and Film Tour“, a celebration of creative expression in brewing and film, will occur at Central Park, July 23d from 7:30-10:30 pm. This event will be a fund raising effort for two local bicycle advocacy and service organizations, Davis Bicycles! and the Davis Bike Collective. It will consist of a music and film festival with bicycling related films together with tasting of rare offerings of exotic beers. These are brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company, and some are available only on the Clips of Faith Tour. Samples of up to 15 beers will be available in 3 oz portions. Picnickers are welcome but tasty food will also be for sale. Valet bike parking will be available and all proceeds from beer sales will go to benefit the bike advocacy groups. Continue reading ‘cLips of Faith Beer and Film Tour’